night at the fiestas by kirstin valdez quade

Each of these marvelous stories illuminates the messy, tender, unexplored borderland inside us all where our finest virtues bleed into our worst faults. Vibrant, incisive, and wickedly funny, Night at the Fiestas announces the arrival of a fiercely original new voice.Ī writer of extraordinary perception, a sharp-eyed truth-teller who renders her characters and the landscapes they inhabit with exquisite care. With unflinching honesty and relentless compassion, Kirstin Valdez Quade conjures characters that are uncannily alive. Night at the Fiestas is a book of extraordinary virtuosity.Ī stunning debut. The stories here are taut and tense, while at the same time morally complicated, which is to say, they cut sharp and they cut deep. Kirstin Valdez Quade is a fantastic writer, both stylish and sagacious. With intensity, dark humor, and emotional precision, Kirstin Valdez Quade’s unforgettable stories plunge us into the fierce, troubled hearts of characters defined by the desire to escape the past or else to plumb its depths. The result is as close to flesh and blood as black ink on white paper can come. Her New Mexico is a crucible where individual desire is forged, lost, and reconstituted amid a backdrop of colliding histories and cultures. It’s become cliché to say that a writer’s short stories have the weight of novels, but in Kirstin’s case it happens to be true. up to even the loftiest of expectations. Now that we’ve read darkly funny investigations into relationships, we can agree: her talent is undeniable.įresh, funny….A gifted storyteller with an eye for quirky, compelling detail….A poised and polished debut. polished and potent collection…Rooted deeply in place and ringing with authentic voices, these gripping stories confront the hardest human questions of how to love, trust and forgive.Įach of the ten stories offers a lyrical aria of its own, but together they create the music of generations, of families, and of a people. Quade demonstrates her command of writing about complex issues of ethnicity and success head-on. Her vision has thrived on…fierce, flesh-conscious desire for transcendence.

Night at the fiestas by kirstin valdez quade